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Ahlahshahs were the 11th-12th century rulers of an Anatolian Turkish Beylik of the first period founded after the Battle of Manzikert, and centered in Ahlat on the northwestern shore of the Lake Van in Eastern Anatolia.
The dynasty is sometimes also called Sökmenli in reference to the
founder of the principality, Sökmen el Kutbî, literally Sökmen the
Slave, one of the commanders of the Great Seljuk Alp Arslan. Ahlatshah
Sökmenli should not be confused with the Artuklu dynasty branch of
Sökmenli which ruled in Hasankeyf during approximately the same period.
Another title Sökmen and his descendants assumed, as heirs to the local
Armenian princes according to Clifford Edmund Bosworth, was Shah-i
Arman, often rendered as Ermenshahs (Ermenşahlar).
The Beylik was founded by the Turkish slave commander Sökmen who took
over Ahlat (Khliat or Khilat) in 1100. Ahlatshahs were closely tied to
Great Seljuk institutions, although they also followed independent
policies like the wars against Georgia in alliance with their neighbors
to the north, the Saltuklu. They also acquired links with the branch of
the Artuklu dynasty based in Meyyafarikin (now Silvan), becoming part
of a nexus of Turkish principalities in Jazira and Eastern Anatolia.
The Ahlatshahs reached their brightest period under the fifty-seven
year reign of Sökmen the Second (1128 - 1185). He was married to a
female relative (daughter or sister) of the Saltuklu ruler Saltuk.Since
Sökmen II was childless, the beylik was seized by a series of slave
commanders after his death. In 1207, the beylik was taken over by the
Ayyubids who had long coveted Ahlat and had come to the city at the
invitation of the last Sökmenli ruler.
The Ahlatshahs left a large number of historic tombstones in and around
the city of Ahlat. Local administators are currently trying to have the
tombstones included in UNESCO's World Heritage List, where they are
currently listed tentatively.
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